Development program for creative activities

June 15, 2026 Results of the 2nd year of the VISUAL ARTS program

A total of 39 projects were submitted for the 2nd year of the program, requesting a total of 5,076,414 CZK. Two projects were disqualified on formal reasons (one was submitted 3 days after the deadline, and the other involved an ineligible legal entity as the applicant). The program’s budget allowed for funding 10% of the applicants, making the expert committee’s task all the more challenging. The four selected winning projects impressed the jury with the applicants’ high level of professionalism, their focused approach to the chosen topic, and their interactive or participatory dimension in relation to the regions and locations where they were presented.

The committee consists of

Tomáš Vaněk, committee chair, conceptual artist, head of the Intermedia 3 studio, and rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (AVU) from 2014 to 2022; member of the NSU Advisory Board; Denisa Bytelová, art critic and curator of contemporary art; and lecturer at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM); Silvie Šeborová, theorist and curator of contemporary art; Michal Lazorčík, art historian, curator of exhibitions and collections at the Klatovy / Klenová Gallery; and Kristýna Červinková representing the Škoda Auto Endowment Fund,

recommended four projects totaling 506,000 CZK for funding to the SAEF Board of Directors on June 3, 2026.

List of funded projects in alphabetical order

Efemer x Estet, Lucie Králíková, 140,000 CZK

Listening Room, Jan Haubelt, 116,000 CZK

Growing Through, Lenka Tsikoliya, 150,000 CZK

Messengers from Beyond, Nová Paka City Museum, 100,000 CZK

The Efemer x Estet project by artist Lucie Králíková is based on a collaboration between two artists who live in uprooted regions – Lolland in Denmark and the Sudetenland in northern Bohemia – places devoid of traditional customs, holidays, and rituals. Therefore, through their artistic practices, they create these elements themselves and share their ideas, methods, and experiences through mutual correspondence. The project will culminate in a publication combining text fragments, visual materials, and documentation of their creative process, as well as a performative event in Mladá Boleslav, where the participants will meet with the general public.

An object in the landscape, titled Listening Room by sculptor Jan Haubelt, is designed to raise awareness and deepen the visitor’s experience of the landscape. The starting point is a change in the participant’s observing position and an intensification of the auditory experience of the landscape. The object is a simplified, giant ear that will be installed in the Orlické Mountains near the Schule cultural center.

Lenka Tsikaliya’s site-specific installation Growing Through is a participatory, process-oriented artwork for a public space in Mladá Boleslav. This large-scale relief, inspired by the Škoda Auto complex and its surroundings, is made of rammed clay and organic materials – including seeds from various plants – and will gradually react to the weather and become overgrown with vegetation. The project, which will be created in collaboration with elementary schools, creates a space for the public to imagine transformations of the city’s image, in which technical infrastructure and the biological layer intertwine.

The fourth award-winning project is the publication and presentation of Messengers from Beyond, a collection of mediumistic drawings from the collections of the City Museum in Nová Paka. Renowned experts and contemporary artists are collaborating on the project. The collection, which has not yet been published in its entirety, represents a significant part of the cultural history of the Podkrkonoší region and documents the specific phenomenon of spiritualism, which had a significant social and cultural impact in the region.

Artists are to complete their projects by the end of 2027 at the latest.
Congratulations to the winners.

The second year of the VISUAL ARTS program has been announced.

Applications are being accepted until May 15, 2026. 23:59.

We will publish the results in June 2026.

The collaboration between the Foundation for Contemporary Art and the Škoda
Endowment Fund offers opportunities for artists and their projects presented or carried out in selected regions. Support may be provided for artistic interventions in public spaces, the creation of new works of art, performances, or publications, for example. Grant amounts range from 50,000 to 150,000 CZK, with projects to be completed by December 31, 2027. As the program’s expert guarantor, NSU defines the criteria, appoints the selection committee, and oversees the applicant selection process.

RESULTS OF THE 2025 PILOT YEAR

Eleven projects were submitted for the program’s pilot year, with a total requested amount of 985,000 CZK.

The committee, consisting of

Pavla Sceranková, sculptor, head of the Intermedia 2 studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, (AVU),

Michaela Thelenová, visual artist, vice dean and head of the Digital Media studio at the Faculty of Arts and Design, Jan Evangelista Purkyně University,

Tomáš Vaněk, conceptual artist, head of the Intermedia 3 studio and rector of the Academy of Fine Arts (AVU) from 2014 to 2022, member of the NSU Expert Council,

Michal Lazorčík, art historian, curator of exhibitions and collections at the Klatovy /Klenová Gallery, and

Ladislav Kučera, director of the Škoda Endowment fund,

In a two-round evaluation held on June 23, 2025, it recommended that the SAEF Board of Directors fund five projects for a total amount of 440,000 CZK.

List of funded projects in alphabetical order

Veronika Drahotová, A Different Rainbow, 100,000 CZK

Jolana Havelková, Memory of Extinct Villages in the Rychnov Region, 95,000 CZK

Akub Inaru, A Dozen Smart Toys, 94,000 CZK

Adam Michálek, Auto Opera, 51,000 CZK

Tereza Severová, The New Atlas of Clouds, 100,000 CZK

We quote from the committee’s statements on the winning projects: “All winning projects meet the basic criteria in terms of artistic quality, contribution to the region’s cultural life, and feasibility. We are pleased that we were able to secure projects – particularly for public spaces – that can have an impact and foster interaction with a wide range of potential audiences. Whether it is Tereza Severová’s The New Atlas of Clouds, which, through a precise yet poetic form of sculptural intervention in the landscape, draws attention to themes related to the transformation of technology and the climate, or Veronika Drahotová’s ambiguous and playful land art intervention Another Rainbow, which is not without an aura of mystery, or Jakub Minář’s project A Dozen Smart Toys, which, through a minimalist yet monumental installation, raises questions about the qualities and function of public space. Jolana Havelková’s project Memory of Vanished Villages in the Rychnov Region explores the archaeology of collective memory, which significantly shapes our attitudes in the present; for this reason, we believe it is worthwhile to support this artistic research, which offers versatile possibilities for future presentation. We are very curious to see the outcome of artist Adam Michálek’s performative sound experiment, Auto Opera, which is sure to attract the attention of both tech enthusiasts and the general public interested in technology and its impact on our sensory experiences in everyday life.”

Artists have one calendar year to carry out their projects. Congratulations to the
winners.